This activity will identify knowledge gaps in information needed to understand the status of sea turtles at three life-history stages across the Gulf of America: adult nesting females, incubating eggs, and hatchlings. The information will be used to identify restoration needs and assess progress in restoring sea turtles injured by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The project will compile fishing data from Caribbean resource agencies, put this data in an accessible format, and conduct analysis to support restoration planning. Priority species for this project are blue marlin and yellowfin tuna, with secondary benefits to dolphinfish and other living marine resources. The analysis will include an assessment of the existing data collection programs and identify limitations that might represent challenges for restoration planning.
This activity will develop a conceptual model (CM) that will help organize what is known and not known about how restoration activities implemented by the Open Ocean Trustee Implementation Group (OO TIG) affect the resources and habitats that are the focus of OO TIG restoration (i.e., fish and water column invertebrates, marine mammals, birds, mesophotic & deep benthic communities, and sea turtles).
This Monitoring and Adaptive Management Activity conducted vessel-based surveys during two consecutive summers to collect information on the distribution, density, and abundance of oceanic cetaceans and seabirds in the Gulf of America. Surveys used established methods and built on past surveys conducted by the Gulf of Mexico (now Gulf of America) Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species (GoMMAPPS). The collected survey data will be incorporated into existing spatial density models to update seasonally and spatially explicit density maps of marine mammals.
This planning activity will produce a draft and final restoration plan for Restoration Types that could include Birds and Sturgeon.
This project will protect high-density nesting beach habitat and enhance sea turtle hatchling productivity and survival at Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge (ACNWR) located on the Atlantic Coast of Florida. ACNWR hosts the highest nesting density beach habitat in the western hemisphere for loggerhead sea turtles. It is also the most significant area for green sea turtle nesting in North America, and is becoming increasingly important nesting habitat for leatherback sea turtles.
The most direct approach to restoring Mesophotic and Deep Benthic Communities (MDBC) is to facilitate the growth of new corals to accelerate an otherwise protracted natural recovery due to the slow natural growth rates and low recruitment of mesophotic and deep benthic corals. The objective of this pilot scale project is to develop techniques that can be used for direct restoration of MDBC at a scale that is meaningful relative to the injury to these communities.
The abundance and distribution of Mesophotic and Deep Benthic Communities (MDBC) across the Gulf of America are not completely known, particularly in deeper waters, presenting a challenge to decision-making for restoration, management, and protection and to evaluations of DWH injuries and recovery. This project will conduct high-resolution mapping efforts in both mesophotic and deep benthic habitats and use this information to refine predictive models to improve the effectiveness and cost efficiency of future restoration and mapping efforts.
Despite the depth at which mesophotic and deep benthic communities (MDBC) occur, human activities threaten the health and resiliency of these communities. This project will advance the protection and management of these communities through development of a framework for management and protection, including monitoring, education, outreach, engagement, and direct threat reduction. Project activities include:
The life histories, diversity, and population structures of Mesophotic and Deep Benthic Community (MDBC) species in the Gulf of America are not well understood. The goal of this project is to fill those data gaps, determine baseline conditions and characterize key community conditions at both injured and reference sites. This project will support and inform restoration planning and implementation for MDBC through strategically designed field surveys, with subsequent laboratory-based analyses of MDBC components and interactions.